Palace: Duterte admin never allowed PH to be a ‘garbage dump’

DENR to probe reports of Chinese ships dumping poop in Spratlys. Image from Simularity

MANILA, Philippines — The Duterte administration has never allowed the Philippines to become a “garbage dump,” Malacañang said amid reports that Chinese ships left human waste in the West Philippine Sea.

To prove this, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque cited how the Philippines sent back to Canada its illegally exported trash back in 2019.

“Kung totoo po yan, minsan pinabalik natin ang basura ng Canada. Diba? Hindi naman tayo pumapayag na tapunan ang Pilipinas. Ni minsan, hindi po tayo pumayag sa administrasyon ni Presidente Duterte,” Roque told reporters in an interview.

(If that’s true, we once returned the trash of Canada. Right? We do not allow the Philippines to become a garbage dump. We never allowed that under the Duterte administration.)

Still, Roque noted that the report that the country’s waters are being made as a dumping site for human waste has yet to be verified.

“Wala pa pong verification. At iyan po ang unang ginagawa natin, vine-verify natin dahil hindi naman dapat nagrereact habang wala pa pong verification. We only react to facts,” Roque said.

(There’s still no verification. That’s what we do first, we verify because we should not react while there’s no verification. We only react to facts.)

According to US geospatial firm Simularity, the damage caused by dumping raw sewage onto reefs in just the last five years can be seen from space.

The Department of National Defense said it is already verifying the reports, noting that the photo depicting the incident was supposedly taken on the Great Barrier Reef.

EDV